NetInfo

NetInfo was a distributed network configuration database in NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X versions up through Mac OS X Tiger (10.4). NetInfo stored network-wide configuration information, such as users and groups, in a binary database consisting of directories that could optionally be obtained from a domain server. NetInfo replaced many Unix system configuration files, though they are still present for running the machine in single user mode; most Unix APIs wrapped NetInfo instead.